BG Blog: Brett Ince’s coaching journey to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

For our latest BG Blog, we caught up with Brett Ince, Head of Elite & Performance at Park Wrekin Gymnastics Club, and personal coach to Olympian Alice Kinsella to find out about his journey from gymnast to Olympic coach at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Keep reading to find out more. ?

How it all began…

As a child, I was full of energy and couldn't sit still for a moment. My mum, seeing this, thought gymnastics would be the perfect outlet. I was that kid who climbed out of my cot and scaled anything I could find, so she brought me to a local gymnastics club at our leisure centre—and I fell in love with it instantly. The coach there noticed my passion and invited me for a trial at Earls Gymnastics Club in Halesowen. From that moment, my journey truly began and I have never looked back.

At Earls Gymnastics, I was immediately placed in a development programme and started working with my coach Michelle Baker. It was tough, but I always loved the hard work and with Michelle by my side I was soon competing for Great Britain at a junior level. Around the age of 14 or 15, things shifted at home, and I needed to become more independent. That's when I naturally gravitated towards coaching. What started as helping with a few recreational classes after college quickly turned into pursuing my first qualifications in men’s artistic gymnastics.

Transitioning to coaching

As a former competitive gymnast, I had a natural drive that I wanted to channel through coaching. However, coaching at a recreational level wasn’t enough for me because I love the highs and lows that comes with competition. At that time, there weren't any opportunities in men's artistic gymnastics at my club, so I took on a small group of women’s artistic gymnasts. This was a completely new challenge for me. While there are similarities between men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, the differences are vast and exciting. I found myself thriving in this new environment, and before long, our programme had advanced to the national squad level.

Around this time, I completed my level four qualification at Lilleshall, where I had the privilege of meeting Christine Still. Christine, who now coaches Alice Kinsella alongside me, saw potential in me. She noticed my enthusiasm and knack for hand-spotting and invited me to help her out while mentoring me in the process.

A turning point in my coaching career

It became clear to me early on that if I wanted to grow as a coach, I needed to immerse myself in environments with more experienced women’s artistic gymnastics coaches. In 2008, I joined Park Wrekin with Christine, and together alongside Jemma Parry we developed the club's programme. From there, the momentum only grew.

Not long after, Alice Kinsella joined the club as a budding, talented little gymnast. Initially, I supported her training but it wasn’t long until we were working together full time alongside Christine. It’s been an absolute honour to see Alice mature into the determined & gritty person she is today.

Did I always have an ambition to be a coach of an Olympian?

I don’t believe I fulfilled my ability as an athlete and that left me with a big hole and I was never going to allow myself in my coaching role to not achieve what I was capable of.

The ultimate goal is always to have a gymnast go to the Olympics, however, during my early years of coaching, national coaches were typically the ones who went to the Olympics so I didn’t ever anticipate that I may one day get to be in that role. However, for the Paris 2024 cycle, personal coaches had mostly been selected to go onto the competition floor, so it became apparent there might be an opportunity for me to get to an Olympic Games and support the team on the ultimate stage.

Tokyo was one of the hardest times in my coaching career. I’d always pictured I’d finish that journey with Alice, whether that be waving her off at the airport and our job together was done. However, due to the pandemic – that never happened, and I didn’t get to help with the last weeks of training before the Games.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games cycle

Alice and I had never really spoken about life after the Tokyo Olympics, however, Alice decided she did want to carry on. This decision proved to be monumental as the WAG team saw immense success—World Championships, European Championships, and Commonwealth Games medals. I think Alice was really pleased she’d chosen to do another cycle.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been on the competition floor as we became European champions and World silver medallists. Hard work plays a significant role and Alice’s dedication and relentless work ethic matches mine perfectly, and it’s that shared mindset that makes us such a strong team.

I’ll never forget the day I received the email confirming my selection for the Games. It was surreal, and I didn’t allow myself to fully process it until I was on the Eurostar to Paris. Once we arrived at the holding camp and I got to take part in the opening ceremony, everything began to feel real.

My experience in Paris

Every major championship is spectacular, but there was just something about it that made it feel different.

The atmosphere in Paris was electric. Walking into the arena, seeing the Olympic rings, and soaking in the energy from the crowd—it was all overwhelming. But as soon as the competition started, it was back to focusing on the task at hand.

One of the most surreal moments was stepping off the boat at the opening ceremony in front of the Eiffel Tower, all lit up with the Olympic rings. Time stood still for a moment, and I thought, “Wow, I’m at the Olympics.”

Even just arriving in the village and kitting out – the whole experience just feels so special. The experience of being surrounded by the best athletes from various sports was incredible. Team GB did a fantastic job of making everything feel special, and the camaraderie among the athletes was inspiring.

The crowd was incredible in the arena. As I coach, I love it, and it means we just feed off each other’s energy. We had a tough bar rotation during qualification and that change in energy when you’ve not done as well as you want to, can become a bit contagious and performances can slip. However, between Molly Richardson, myself, and the girls, we pulled together, and when we got to beam the athletes performed the most faultless routines, so that’s how we know we’re a tight team as even in those tough moments we know when to flip that switch and get ourselves back on track – when it would be so easy to flounder.

Team final, they smashed it, and it was amazing to be able to see what we’ve seen in training.

Then, seeing Alice in the all-around final, that felt very special. I felt lucky that I got to do that whole journey with her.?

Were the Games what I expected?

There were similarities to what people had described, however, what cannot be described is the emotional rollercoaster. People can tell you how it feels, but you can’t understand it until you’ve felt it yourself – every positive, every negative emotion is all squashed into a week – the highs, the lows, the nerves. You work for an event for such a long time, and everything is geared to it, and you wake up the next day and it’s all done. It’s not always spoken about, but it feels like a loss almost and what’s been part of your life for so long is no longer there.

However, I’ve got an amazing family and team around me, they’re my rock and I know whether we win or lose I always have their pride and support. Christine was out in Paris commentating and I was able to visit her a few times and as we coached Alice together, it was great to have that bit of home and familiarity – it went such a long way. It helped get me through the experience.

To sum up, I coach because I love it. Whether I’m coaching at the Olympics or working with young gymnasts in the gym, the joy I get from the process is what keeps me going. If I’m lucky enough to coach at another Olympics, that’s fantastic. But regardless, I’m already so thankful for the experiences I’ve had. My passion for coaching will always be the driving force behind everything I do.